Infinite Vitality

Frequently Asked Questions

Definitions

• When an effect reduces the Health of a piece (or it loses a bonus to Health), and it has already taken damage equal to its new health, is it destroyed immediately?
  Yes. (Branch & Claw rulebook p. 16)

  Invaders and Dahan have Health and take Damage. As soon as they have taken as much Damage as their Health, they are destroyed, whether that comes from taking more Damage or having their Health reduced.

  Unlike in some other games, doing Damage normally doesn't reduce the Health of the Invaders; there are two separate totals.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Health, Damage, Farmers Seek the Dahan for Aid, Years of Little Rain, 7 more...

Effect Rules

• If an effect prevents a piece from being damaged or destroyed, does that also prevent the piece from being removed or replaced?
  No and no. While "destroying," "removing," and "replacing" all result in a component being taken off the island, they're mutually exclusive effects.

  Similarly, a piece that can't be removed can still be destroyed or replaced.

  A small number of effects separately protect against more than one of Destroy, Remove, and Replace:

  • "Stubborn Solidity," a Unique Power of Stone's Unyielding Defiance, prevents Dahan from being changed in any way.
  • "Fortify Heart and Hearth," a Special Rule of Hearth-Vigil, explicitly prevents Dahan from being destroyed or replaced by Events. (It doesn't prevent them from being removed, but no such Events exist as of the release of Nature Incarnate.)
  • "Thwarting the Sneaky Thieves," a rule in the Despicable Theft scenario, explicitly prevents Thieves from being destroyed, removed, or replaced in certain circumstances.
    Tags: Destroy, Remove, Replace, Saved From Destruction, 28 more...

Elements and Elemental Thresholds

• When you hit the threshold of a Major Power, is the effect in addition to the base effect?
  Yes, unless the card says "instead", threshold effects are in addition to the base effect [p. 17].
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Elements, The Jungle Hungers, Tsunami, Vigor of the Breaking Dawn, 27 more...

General Play

• If one of Shroud of Silent Mists lands is targeted with Vengeance of the Dead and Invaders have their Health boosted by an Event, when damaged Invaders die at the end of the turn when the health boost wears off, do you get the benefit of Vengeance of the Dead?
  No.

  The effect of Vengeance of the Dead (extra Damage when Towns/Cities are Destroyed) and the Health boost wear off at the same time in Time Passes, so you don't get the extra Damage. (Health bonuses also wear off during Time Passes, so you need Shroud of Silent Mists to prevent the healing for the Invaders to actually die.)

  Similar comments apply to other effects that wear off at the end of the turn.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Time Passes, Weave Together the Fabric of Place, Vengeance of the Dead, Infinite Vitality, 3 more...
• What happens if a piece winds up in a place or state it's not allowed to be?
  If the place still exists, then:

  • Pieces representing humans (Dahan / Invaders) are cleaned up to the closest legal land — this is not considered a move, is not an action, and does not trigger anything, it is simply a correction of the game state. This happens only once you are not in the middle of an action, and there are no pending triggered actions (i.e., after each action tree), just before checking for victory/defeat.
  • All other pieces remain where they are, but are considered out of play unless/until they're no longer in an illegal state.

  On the other hand, if the place was destroyed and pieces within it somehow survived the destruction, they all get cleaned up.

  This sort of thing can happen if pieces survive the sinking of a board (like Dahan via Infinite Vitality with threshold or Explorers via the Tsardom of Russia's A Sense for Impending Disaster), if an Ocean stops being a land (by Ocean's Hungry Grasp losing its Presence there) while other Spirits' Presence is there, or if Invaders/Dahan are left in the Ocean after an action but manage not to Drown in some way.

  If the nearest legal land is unclear, use your best judgment, based on physical distance if necessary. If there is literally no legal land to put the pieces in, return them to the supply; this is still considered cleaning up (not an action, not a move/remove/destroy, does not trigger anything).
  Tags: Pieces, Illegally placed pieces, Victory and Defeat, Action tree, 13 more...
• What's the timing of ongoing effects expiring?
  All "this turn" effects wear off at the same time. For now, assume all normal Time Passes activity (discard, lose elements, clear damage, ongoing effects expire) is simultaneous. Cards like "Gift of Constancy" (which modify discarding Powers) or "Unquenchable Flames" work because they explicitly specify a timing.

  Rules for non-standard things that happen during Time Passes (like Shroud of Silent Mist's "Slow and Silent Death") can be done before or after effects wearing off unless otherwise specified.

  If it ever becomes clear that there really ought to be some sort of internal ordering to Time Passes, we'll call out that ordering in whatever expansion / FAQ it becomes relevant.
  Tags: Time Passes, Timing, Defend, Action Modifiers, 38 more...

Power Cards

• What does the threshold effect of Infinite Vitality protect against?
  Anything that would Damage or Destroy Dahan in that land, whether Powers, invader Ravages, Events, etc.

  It does not protect against effects that "remove" or "replace" the Dahan.

  If the threshold effect of Cast Down into the Briny Deep is used, the Dahan can survive. They would then be moved to the nearest legal land (as per anytime an Invader/Dahan piece is left in an illegal place).
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Illegally placed pieces, Infinite Vitality, Cast Down into the Briny Deep
• Can you choose a land protected by Infinite Vitality as a place to add Blight? (Due to cascade, Power, Event Card, etc.)
  Yes, you can.

  Infinite Vitality only changes what happens when you would add Blight to a land. It doesn't restrict in any way your ability to choose the land as a place Blight is added to.
  Tags: Blight, Infinite Vitality

Spirits and Innate Powers

• When exactly do you have to pay for Finder's rule Responsibilities to the Dead when you move something?
  There are two cases where Finder of Paths Unseen must pay:

  • When they move a piece in a way that decreases the Health of a damaged Invader/Dahan so it has now taken lethal Damage (one of many ways Finder's action can destroy the Dahan/Invaders with its own action);
  • When they move an Invader/Dahan in a way that directly triggers their destruction by another action (Finder directly triggering their destruction by moving them).

  The first case can happen by causing a Health penalty (e.g., Pushing a damaged Town/City into a Sacred Site of Rising Heat of Stone and Sand) or removing a Health bonus (e.g., Pushing damaged Dahan out of a land with "Infinite Vitality" or Gathering a Blight into a land with a damaged Durable Town against Habsburg Monarchy Livestock Colony Level 4).

  The second case most commonly occurs in conjunction with Powers like "Melt Earth Into Quicksand" and "Call to Guard," and when teaming up with Ocean's Hungry Grasp to Push Invaders into the Ocean (but not when moving Heart of the Wildfire's Presence, since moving the Invaders/Dahan isn't what triggers "Blazing Presence").

  If something prevents the destruction, then Finder does not need to pay. If one triggered action triggers another triggered action that causes destruction (like moving pieces into another Spirit's "Bargain of Coursing Paths," which then moves those pieces into another Spirit's "Melt Earth Into Quicksand"), this does not count as "directly triggering" the destruction.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Triggered Actions, Durable, Health, Responsibilities to the Dead (Finder of Paths Unseen), 8 more...
• What happens if 1 or more Invaders/Dahan moved into the Ocean aren't successfully destroyed by the Ocean in Play special rule?
  Push them to non-Ocean lands (as part of the same action). If the Push also fails somehow (perhaps due to Isolate), the pieces will be left in an illegal state and cleaned up to the nearest land after all triggered actions complete – human pieces cannot remain in the Ocean between "action trees" (a primary action and all other actions following from it). Regardless, Ocean's Hungry Grasp does not get Energy for them.

  This isn't formally specified on Ocean's panel because it's virtually never relevant with just the core game, and spelling it out would both take up a lot of space and needlessly increase complexity / confusion-potential for players who only have the base game. However, it becomes very relevant when playing vs. The Habsburg Monarchy Lvl 4+ (Jagged Earth), which blunts "Destroy Town" effects; see this FAQ if you need details.

  The fact that the Push is part of the triggered action means that it can trigger further actions – e.g., "Melt Earth Into Quicksand" or "Call to Guard" in the land Pushed to – which cleaning up illegally placed pieces does not do.

  As a very specific edge-case, if the Ocean is also a normal land due to "Weave Together the Fabric of Place," humans can hang out there without trouble (until end of turn when the effect expires).
  Tags: Illegally placed pieces, Triggered Actions, Push, Durable, 13 more...
• Can Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares destroy already-damaged pieces by moving them into/out of lands that affect their Health? (Eg: moving a Dahan that has taken 2+ Damage out of a land where it's getting a Health bonus from Promises of Protection.)
  Yes. The Power itself isn't performing any damage or destroy effects, which is what To Dream a Thousand Deaths modifies; it's just changing where a piece is. From that, the game's core rules cause the piece to be destroyed.

  The destruction does still happen within the scope of the action (Power), so triggered actions like Vengeance of the Dead will trigger after the action (Power) is complete.
  Tags: Damage, Health, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), Infinite Vitality, 3 more...